ALERRT named national source for shooter response

Posted by University News Service

June 18, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC – Vice President Joe Biden today recognized the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University as a primary source for national law enforcement training and response to active shooter events during a White House briefing.

In response to the Newtown shooting in December of 2012, the FBI sought ways to better protect the lives of responding officers and the innocent people victimized by an active shooter. The FBI partnered with ALERRT at Texas State to update the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance/VALOR funded tactical training for front line patrol officers who respond alone, or with one to five others, to an active shooter situation.

The FBI then sent 100 of its trainers to ALERRT Train the Trainer programs, so these agents and their ALERRT counterparts can expand training on current active shooter response tactics nationwide. These instructors will partner to provide this free and vital training to state and local law enforcement officers. Additional funding provided by the FBI and the DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance-VALOR is increasing the number of officers who receive this training across the nation.

ALERRT and the DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance have a longstanding relationship for providing this vitl training to law enforcement officers across the nation. The BJA has funded approximately $6.8 million in ALERRT active shooter training to date.

The FBI has named ALERRT at Texas State as their national standard in active shooter response.

The Obama Administration released a new progress report detailing the completion of or significant progress on 21 of the 23 executive actions President Obama laid out in January to help reduce gun violence.

At the event at the White House today, Vice President Biden highlighted the significant progress the Administration has made on strengthening the existing background check system, empowering law enforcement, making schools safer, encouraging responsible gun ownership, ending the freeze on gun violence research, preserving the rights of health providers to protect their patients and communities, and improving access to mental health care.